Les Urnes De L'Opera

On December 24, 1907, 48 gramophone records of the greatest singers of the day were buried in the basement of the Paris Op©ra, with instructions to leave them there for 100 years. In 2007, the records were unearthed and restored with painstaking care with the help of EMI Classics technicians. Now the contents of the so-called "Urnes de l'Op©ra" are being released by EMI Classics in partnership with the Biblioth¨que Nationale de France, the Op©ra National de Paris, and the Association pour le Rayonnement de l'Op©ra de Paris.

These recordings feature performances of mythic proportions, including Enrico Caruso in Boh¨me, Rigoletto, and Lucia; Nellie Melba singing Mozart's Figaro; Reynaldo Hahn singing his own composition and another by Chabrier; Pol Plan§on as M©phistoph©l¨s; Adelina Patti in Don Giovanni; and more! The set also includes legendary instrumental soloists such as Fritz Kreisler, Raoul Pugno, Jan Kubelik, and Ignacy Paderewski.